Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice WWII German Early HJ Nickel Alloy Belt Buckle (Koppelschloß), complete with the correct leather belt. It is embossed with the HJ motto Blut und Ehre (Blood and Honor) around the HJ Emblem surmounted by an Eagle. The buckle is in very good condition, showing a lovely mellow patina on the solid nickel alloy body and soldered on brass catch. The adjustment claw is plated steel, and shows plating loss and oxidation, as is typical. The buckle is marked on the back by the clasp loop with ((RZM)) and maker code M4 / 46, for Wilhelm Schröder & Co. of Lüdenscheid, a German city known for its clothing accessories industry.

The black leather belt is in very good condition, still retaining most of the original finish, and it measures about 36 1/2” when fully extended without the buckle installed. It is marked size 80 on one end, which would be 80cm or 31.6 inches, so the belt may have stretched or been mismarked.. It still retains the leather adjustment tab with a double row of seven holes, which is marked 469 CROUPON where it is stitched to the belt, indicating the type of leather used.

This is a very lovely complete HJ Knife belt with an early Nickel buckle, ready for further research and display!

The Reichszeugmeisterei, or RZM, was was based at the Brown house in Munich and NSDAP party headquarters in Berlin. The RZM ensured that the manufacturers of military items were consistent in design, quality of materials and other characteristics of the items. It also defined standards of design, manufacturing and quality and published an authoritative color chart for textiles. The M4 in the code stands for belt buckles, contractor 22 stands for firm Christian Theodore Dicke.

AH believed German youth to be the future of his 3rd Reich. The HJ (AH Jugend) was formed officially in 1935, and with the exception of NSDAP ideology indoctrination was very similar to the Boy Scouts. Beginning at about the age of ten years, both boys (AH Jugend) and girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel) were enlisted in the Party-run organization. The boys only were given HJ Knives after having passed minor exams. The knives had nickeled hilts with black checkered grip plates. The obverse plate was fitted with an enameled HJ swas insignia. Through 1937, these knives were etched with the motto of the organization, Blut und Ehre! (Blood and Honor!). Examples produced after this date were made with plain blades usually bearing an RZM marking.

The HJ Leaders were professionals in charge of the training and NSDAP education of the German Youth. They wore a special dagger consisting of silvered hilt fittings with blue-black leather-covered scabbard. The grip was composed of tightly wrapped silver wire, over a wood base. The pommel cap featured an HJ diamond on top, complete with swas. The upper scabbard fitting portrayed an open-winged HJ eagle with swas cut into the bird's chest. The blade was etched with the HJ motto, Blut und Ehre